2:8 Ask me,
and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, 4
the ends of the earth as your personal property.
2:9 You will break them 5 with an iron scepter; 6
you will smash them like a potter’s jar!’” 7
21:8 You 8 prevail over 9 all your enemies;
your power is too great for those who hate you. 10
21:9 You burn them up like a fiery furnace 11 when you appear; 12
the Lord angrily devours them; 13
the fire consumes them.
21:10 You destroy their offspring 14 from the earth,
their descendants 15 from among the human race. 16
1 tn Grk “to rule over them.”
2 tn This term, when used of people rather than animals, has some connotations of violence and mercilessness (L&N 20.72).
3 sn Slaughter them. To reject the king is to face certain judgment from him.
4 sn I will give you the nations. The
5 tc The LXX reads “you will shepherd them.” This reading, quoted in the Greek text of the NT in Rev 2:27; 12:5; 19:15, assumes a different vocalization of the consonantal Hebrew text and understands the verb as רָעָה (ra’ah, “to shepherd”) rather than רָעָע (ra’a’, “to break”). But the presence of נָפַץ (nafats, “to smash”) in the next line strongly favors the MT vocalization.
6 tn The Hebrew term שֵׁבֶט (shevet) can refer to a “staff” or “rod,” but here it probably refers to the Davidic king’s royal scepter, symbolizing his sovereignty.
7 sn Like a potter’s jar. Before the Davidic king’s awesome power, the rebellious nations are like fragile pottery.
8 tn The king is now addressed. One could argue that the
9 tn Heb “your hand finds.” The idiom pictures the king grabbing hold of his enemies and defeating them (see 1 Sam 23:17). The imperfect verbal forms in vv. 8-12 may be translated with the future tense, as long as the future is understood as generalizing.
10 tn Heb “your right hand finds those who hate you.”
11 tn Heb “you make them like a furnace of fire.” Although many modern translations retain the literal Hebrew, the statement is elliptical. The point is not that he makes them like a furnace, but like an object burned in a furnace (cf. NEB, “at your coming you shall plunge them into a fiery furnace”).
12 tn Heb “at the time of your face.” The “face” of the king here refers to his angry presence. See Lam 4:16.
13 tn Heb “the
14 tn Heb “fruit.” The next line makes it clear that offspring is in view.
15 tn Heb “seed.”
16 tn Heb “sons of man.”
17 tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
18 tn Grk “he sent his soldiers, destroyed those murderers.” The verb ἀπώλεσεν (apwlesen) is causative, indicating that the king was the one behind the execution of the murderers. In English the causative idea is not expressed naturally here; either a purpose clause (“he sent his soldiers to put those murderers to death”) or a relative clause (“he sent his soldier who put those murderers to death”) is preferred.
19 tn The Greek text reads here πόλις (polis), which could be translated “town” or “city.” The prophetic reference is to the city of Jerusalem, so “city” is more appropriate here.
20 tn Grk “Both Paul and Barnabas spoke out courageously and said.” The redundancy is removed in the translation and the verb “replied” is used in keeping with the logical sequence of events. The theme of boldness reappears: Acts 4:24-30; 9:27-28.
21 tn Grk “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken.” For smoothness and simplicity of English style, the passive construction has been converted to active voice in the translation.
22 tn Or “and consider yourselves unworthy.”
23 tn Grk “behold, we.” In this context ἰδού (idou) is not easily translated into English.
24 sn This turning to the Gentiles would be a shocking rebuke to 1st century Jews who thought they alone were the recipients of the promise.